Born and raised in Damascus, Assad graduated from the medical school of Damascus University in 1988 and began to work as a doctor in the Syrian Army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital in London, specialising in ophthalmology. In 1994, after his elder brother Bassel died in a car crash, Bashar was recalled to Syria to take over Bassel's role as heir apparent. He entered the military academy, taking charge of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon in 1998. On 10 July 2000, Assad was elected as President, succeeding his father, who died in office a month prior. In the 2000 and subsequent 2007 election, he received 99.7% and 97.6% support, respectively, in uncontested referendums on his leadership.[2][3][4]

On 16 July 2014, Assad was sworn in for another seven-year term after receiving 88.7% of votes in the first contested presidential election in Ba'athist Syria's history.[5][6][7] The election was held only in areas controlled by the Syrian government during the country's ongoing civil war and dismissed as a "sham" by the Syrian opposition and its Western allies,[8][9] while an international delegation of observers from more than 30 countries led by Syria's allies stated that the election was "free and fair".[10][11][12] The Assad government describes itself as secular,[13] while some political scientists have claimed that the government exploits sectarian tensions in the country and relies upon the Alawite minority to remain in power.[14][15]

Early life

Childhood and education: 1965–1988

Bashar Hafez al-Assad was born in Damascus on 11 September 1965, the second oldest son of Anisa Makhlouf and Hafez al-Assad.[22] Al-Assad in Arabic means "the Lion". Assad's paternal grandfather, Ali Sulayman al-Assad, had managed to change his status from peasant to minor notable and, to reflect this, in 1927 he had changed the family name from Wahsh (meaning "Savage") to Al-Assad.[23]

The younger Assad had five siblings, three of whom are deceased. A sister named Bushra died in infancy.[27] Assad's youngest brother, Majd, was not a public figure and little is known about him other than he was intellectually disabled,[28] and died in 2009 after a "long illness".[29]

The al-Assad family, c. 1993. At the front are Hafez and his wife, Anisa. At the back row, from left to right: Maher, Bashar, Bassel, Majd, and Bushra

Unlike his brothers Bassel and Maher, and second sister, also named Bushra, Bashar was quiet, reserved and lacked interest in politics or the military.[30][28][31] The Assad children reportedly rarely saw their father,[32] and Bashar later stated that he only entered his father's office once while he was president.[33] He was described as "soft-spoken",[34] and according to a university friend, he was very shy, avoided eye contact and speaking in a low voice.[35]

Assad received his primary and secondary education in the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus.[30] In 1982, he graduated from high school and then studied medicine at Damascus University.[36]

Medicine: 1988–1994

Bassel al-Assad, Bashar's older brother, died in 1994, paving the way for Bashar's future presidency.

In 1988, Assad graduated from medical school and began working as an army doctor at the Tishrin Military Hospital on the outskirts of Damascus.[37][38] Four years later, he settled in London to begin postgraduate training in ophthalmology at the Western Eye Hospital.[39] He was described as a "geeky I.T. guy" during his time in London.[40] Bashar had few political aspirations,[41] and his father had been grooming Bashar's older brother Bassel as the future president.[42] However, Bassel died in a car accident in 1994 and Bashar was recalled to the Syrian Army shortly thereafter.

Rise to power: 1994–2000

Soon after the death of Bassel, Hafez al-Assad made the decision to make Bashar the new heir apparent.[43] Over the next six and half years, until his death in 2000, Hafez prepared Bashar for taking over power. Preparations for a smooth transition were made on three levels. First, support was built up for Bashar in the military and security apparatus. Second, Bashar's image was established with the public. And lastly, Bashar was familiarised with the mechanisms of running the country.[44]

To establish his credentials in the military, Bashar entered the military academy at Homs in 1994, and was propelled through the ranks to become a colonel of the elite Syrian Republican Guard in January 1999.[37][45][46] To establish a power base for Bashar in the military, old divisional commanders were pushed into retirement, and new, young, Alawite officers with loyalties to him took their place.[47]

In 1998, Bashar took charge of Syria's Lebanon file, which had since the 1970s been handled by Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, who had until then been a potential contender for president.[47] By taking charge of Syrian affairs in Lebanon, Bashar was able to push Khaddam aside and establish his own power base in Lebanon.[48] In the same year, after minor consultation with Lebanese politicians, Bashar installed Emile Lahoud, a loyal ally of his, as the President of Lebanon and pushed former Lebanese Prime MinisterRafic Hariri aside, by not placing his political weight behind his nomination as prime minister.[49] To further weaken the old Syrian order in Lebanon, Bashar replaced the long serving de facto Syrian High Commissioner of Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, with Rustum Ghazaleh.[50]

Parallel to his military career, Bashar was engaged in public affairs. He was granted wide powers and became head of the bureau to receive complaints and appeals of citizens, and led a campaign against corruption. As a result of this campaign, many of Bashar's potential rivals for president were put on trial for corruption.[37] Bashar also became the President of the Syrian Computer Society and helped to introduce the internet in Syria, which aided his image as a moderniser and reformer.[51]

Immediately after he took office, a reform movement made cautious advances during the Damascus Spring, which led to the shut down of Mezzeh prison and the declaration of a wide-ranging amnesty releasing hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated political prisoners.[53] However, security crackdowns commenced again within the year.[54][55] Many analysts stated that reform under Assad has been inhibited by the "old guard", members of the government loyal to his late father.[51]

Soon after Assad assumed power, he "made Syria's link with Hezbollah – and its patrons in Tehran – the central component of his security doctrine",[59] and in his foreign policy, Assad is an outspoken critic of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.[60]

In 2005 Rafic Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon, was assassinated. The Christian Science Monitor reported that "Syria was widely blamed for Hariri's murder. In the months leading to the assassination, relations between Hariri and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plummeted amid an atmosphere of threats and intimidation."[61] The BBC reported in December 2005 that an interim United Nations report "implicated Syrian officials", while "Damascus has strongly denied involvement in the car bomb which killed Hariri in February".[62]

During the Syrian Civil War

2011–2015

Mass protests in Syria began on 26 January 2011. Protesters called for political reforms and the re-instatement of civil rights, as well as an end to the state of emergency which had been in place since 1963.[64] One attempt at a "day of rage" was set for 4–5 February, though it ended uneventfully.[65] Protests on 18–19 March were the largest to take place in Syria for decades and the Syrian authority responded with violence against its protesting citizens.[66]

The U.S. imposed limited sanctions against the Assad government in April 2011, followed by Barack Obama's executive order as of 18 May 2011 targeting Bashar Assad specifically and six other senior officials.[67][68][69] On 23 May 2011, the EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Assad and nine other officials to a list affected by travel bans and asset freezes.[70] On 24 May 2011, Canada imposed sanctions on Syrian leaders, including Assad.[71]

On 20 June, in response to the demands of protesters and foreign pressure, Assad promised a national dialogue involving movement toward reform, new parliamentary elections, and greater freedoms. He also urged refugees to return home from Turkey, while assuring them amnesty and blaming all unrest on a small number of saboteurs.[72] Assad blamed the unrest on "conspiracies" and accused the Syrian opposition and protestors of "fitna", breaking with the Syrian Ba'ath Party's strict tradition of secularism.[73]

In July 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Assad had "lost legitimacy" as President.[68] On 18 August 2011, Barack Obama issued a written statement that urged Assad to "step aside".[74][75]

In August, the cartoonist Ali Farzat, a critic of Assad's government, was attacked. Relatives of the humourist told media outlets that the attackers threatened to break Farzat's bones as a warning for him to stop drawing cartoons of government officials, particularly Assad. Farzat was hospitalised with fractures in both hands and blunt force trauma to the head.[76][77]

A mural of Assad in Latakia in November 2011

Since October 2011, Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, repeatedly vetoed Western-sponsored draft resolutions in the UN Security Council that would have left open the possibility of UN sanctions, or even military intervention, against the Assad government.[78][79][80]

By the end of January 2012, it was reported by Reuters that over 5,000 civilians and protesters (including armed militants) had been killed by the Syrian army, security agents and militia (Shabiha), while 1,100 people had been killed by "terrorist armed forces".[81]

On 10 January 2012, Assad gave a speech in which he maintained the uprising was engineered by foreign countries and proclaimed that "victory [was] near". He also said that the Arab League, by suspending Syria, revealed that it was no longer Arab. However, Assad also said the country would not "close doors" to an Arab-brokered solution if "national sovereignty" was respected. He also said a referendum on a new constitution could be held in March.[82]

On 27 February 2012, Syria claimed that a proposal that a new constitution be drafted received 90% support during the relevant referendum. The referendum introduced a fourteen-year cumulative term limit for the president of Syria. The referendum was pronounced meaningless by foreign nations including the U.S. and Turkey; the European Union announced fresh sanctions against key regime figures.[83] In July 2012, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denounced Western powers for what he said amounted to blackmail thus provoking a civil war in Syria.[84]

On 6 January 2013, Assad, in his first major speech since June, said that the conflict in his country was due to "enemies" outside of Syria who would "go to Hell" and that they would "be taught a lesson". However he said that he was still open to a political solution saying that failed attempts at a solution "does not mean we are not interested in a political solution."[87][88]

After the fall of four military bases in September 2014,[89] which were the last government footholds in the Raqqa Governorate, Assad received significant criticism from his Alawite base of support.[90] This included remarks made by Douraid al-Assad, cousin of Bashar al-Assad, demanding the resignation of the Syrian Defence Minister, Fahd Jassem al-Freij, following the massacre by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant of hundreds of government troops captured after the ISIL victory at Tabqa Air base.[91] This was shortly followed by Alawite protests in Homs demanding the resignation of the governor,[92] and the dismissal of Assad's cousin Hafez Makhlouf from his security position leading to his subsequent exile to Belarus.[93] Growing resentment towards Assad among Alawites was fuelled by the disproportionate number of soldiers killed in fighting hailing from Alawite areas,[94] a sense that the Assad regime has abandoned them,[95] as well as the failing economic situation.[96] Figures close to Assad began voicing concerns regarding the likelihood of its survival, with one saying in late 2014; "I don't see the current situation as sustainable ... I think Damascus will collapse at some point."[89]

A poster of Bashar al-Assad at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Damascus

In 2015, several members of the Assad family died in Latakia under unclear circumstances.[97] On 14 March, an influential cousin of Assad and founder of the shabiha, Mohammed Toufic al-Assad, was assassinated with five bullets to the head in a dispute over influence in Qardaha—the ancestral home of the Assad family.[98] In April 2015, Assad ordered the arrest of his cousin Munther al-Assad in Alzirah, Latakia.[99] It remains unclear whether the arrest was due to actual crimes.[100]

After a string of government defeats in northern and southern Syria, analysts noted growing government instability coupled with continued waning support for the Assad government among its core Alawite base of support,[101] and that there were increasing reports of Assad relatives, Alawites, and businessmen fleeing Damascus for Latakia and foreign countries.[102][103] Intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk was placed under house arrest sometime in April, and stood accused of plotting with Assad's exiled uncle Rifaat al-Assad to replace Bashar as president.[104] Further high-profile deaths included the commanders of the Fourth Armoured Division, the Belli military airbase, the army's special forces and of the First Armoured Division, with an errant air strike during the Palmyra offensive killing two officers who were reportedly related to Assad.[105]

Since Russian intervention in September 2015

In early September 2015, against the backdrop of reports that Russia was deploying troops in Syria ready for combat, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that while such talk was "premature", Russia was "already providing Syria with sufficiently serious help: with both equipment and training soldiers, with our weapons".[106][107] Shortly after the start of direct military intervention by Russia on 30 September 2015 at the formal request of the Syrian government, Putin stated the military operation had been thoroughly prepared in advance and defined Russia's goal in Syria as "stabilising the legitimate power in Syria and creating the conditions for political compromise".[108]

In November 2015, Assad reiterated that a diplomatic process to bring the country's civil war to an end could not begin while it was occupied by "terrorists", although it was considered by BBC News to be unclear whether he meant only ISIL or western-supported rebels as well.[109] On 22 November, Assad said that within two months of its air campaign Russia had achieved more in its fight against ISIL than the U.S.-led coalition had achieved in a year.[110] In an interview with Česká televize on 1 December, he said that the leaders who demanded his resignation were of no interest to him, as nobody takes them seriously because they are "shallow" and controlled by the U.S.[111][112] At the end of December 2015, senior U.S. officials privately admitted that Russia had achieved its central goal of stabilising Syria and, with the costs relatively low, could sustain the operation at this level for years to come.[113]

In January 2016, Putin stated that Russia was supporting Assad's forces and was ready to back anti-Assad rebels as long as they were fighting ISIL.[114] On 11 January 2016, the senior Russian defence ministry official said that the "Russian air force was striking in support of eleven groups of democratic opposition that number over seven thousand people."[115]

On 22 January 2016, the Financial Times, citing anonymous "senior western intelligence officials", claimed that Russian general Igor Sergun, the director of GRU, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, had shortly before his sudden death on 3 January 2016 been sent to Damascus with a message from Vladimir Putin asking that President Assad step aside.[116] The Financial Times' report was promptly denied by Putin's spokesman.[117]

It was reported in December 2016 that Assad's forces had retaken half of rebel-held Aleppo, ending a 6-year stalemate in the city.[118][119] On 15 December, as it was reported government forces were on the brink of retaking all of Aleppo—a "turning point" in the Civil War, Assad celebrated the liberation of the city, and stated, "History is being written by every Syrian citizen."[120]

After the election of Donald Trump, the priority of the United States concerning Assad was unlike the priority of the Obama administration and in March 2017 United States Ambassador to the United NationsNikki Haley stated the U.S. was no longer focused on "getting Assad out",[121] but this position changed in the wake of the 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.[122] Following the missile strikes on a Syrian airbase on the orders of President Trump, Assad's spokesperson described the United States' behaviour as "unjust and arrogant aggression" and stated that the missile strikes "do not change the deep policies" of the Syrian government.[123] President Assad also told the Agence France-Presse that Syria's military had given up all its chemical weapons in 2013, and would not have used them if they still retained any, and stated that the chemical attack was a "100 percent fabrication" used to justify a U.S. airstike.[124] In June 2017, Russian President Putin said "Assad didn't use the [chemical weapons]" and that the chemical attack was "done by people who wanted to blame him for that."[125] United Nations and international chemical weapons inspectors found the attack was the work of the Assad regime.[126]

Syria under Bashar al-Assad's rule

Economy

According to ABC News, as a result of the Syrian Civil War, "government-controlled Syria is truncated in size, battered and impoverished".[128] Economic sanctions (the Syria Accountability Act) were applied long before the Syrian Civil War by the United States, and were joined by the European Union at the outbreak of the civil war, causing disintegration of the Syrian economy.[129] These sanctions were reinforced in October 2014 by the EU and U.S.[130][131] Industry in parts of the country that are still held by the government is heavily state-controlled, with economic liberalisation being reversed during the current conflict.[132] The London School of Economics has stated that as a result of the Syrian Civil War, a war economy has developed in Syria.[133] A 2014 European Council on Foreign Relations report also stated that a war economy has formed:

Three years into a conflict that is estimated to have killed at least 140,000 people from both sides, much of the Syrian economy lies in ruins. As the violence has expanded and sanctions have been imposed, assets and infrastructure have been destroyed, economic output has fallen, and investors have fled the country. Unemployment now exceeds 50 percent and half of the population lives below the poverty line ... against this backdrop, a war economy is emerging that is creating significant new economic networks and business activities that feed off the violence, chaos, and lawlessness gripping the country. This war economy – to which Western sanctions have inadvertently contributed – is creating incentives for some Syrians to prolong the conflict and making it harder to end it.[134]

A United Nations commissioned report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research states that two-thirds of the Syrian population now lives in "extreme poverty".[135] Unemployment stands at 50 percent.[136] In October 2014 a $50 million mall opened in Tartus which provoked criticism from government supporters and was seen as part of an Assad government policy of attempting to project a sense of normalcy throughout the civil war.[137] A government policy to give preference to families of slain soldiers for government jobs was cancelled after it caused an uproar,[94] while rising accusations of corruption caused protests.[96] In December 2014 the EU banned sales of jet fuel to the Assad government, forcing the government to buy more expensive uninsured jet fuel shipments in the future.[138]

Human Rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have detailed how the Assad government's secret police allegedly tortured, imprisoned, and killed political opponents, and those who speak out against the government.[143][144] In addition, some 600 Lebanese political prisoners are thought to be held in government prisons since the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, with some held for as long as over 30 years.[145] Since 2006, the Assad government has reportedly expanded the use of travel bans against political dissidents.[146] In an interview with ABC News in 2007, Assad stated: "We don't have such [things as] political prisoners," though The New York Times reported the arrest of 30 Syrian political dissidents who were organising a joint opposition front in December 2007, with 3 members of this group considered to be opposition leaders being remanded in custody.[147]

Foreign Policy magazine released an editorial on Assad's position in the wake of the 2011 protests:[151]

During its decades of rule... the Assad family developed a strong political safety net by firmly integrating the military into the government. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, seized power after rising through the ranks of the Syrian armed forces, during which time he established a network of loyal Alawites by installing them in key posts. In fact, the military, ruling elite, and ruthless secret police are so intertwined that it is now impossible to separate the Assad government from the security establishment.... So... the government and its loyal forces have been able to deter all but the most resolute and fearless oppositional activists. In this respect, the situation in Syria is to a certain degree comparable to Saddam Hussein's strong Sunni minority rule in Iraq.

In a February 2015 interview with the BBC, Assad described accusations that the Syrian Arab Air Force used barrel bombs as "childish", stating that his forces have never used these types of "barrel" bombs and responded with a joke about not using "cooking pots" either.[155] The BBC Middle East editor conducting the interview, Jeremy Bowen, later described Assad's statement regarding barrel bombs as "patently not true".[156][157]

In September 2015, France began an inquiry into Assad for crimes against humanity, with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stating "Faced with these crimes that offend the human conscience, this bureaucracy of horror, faced with this denial of the values of humanity, it is our responsibility to act against the impunity of the killers".[160]

In February 2016, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, told reporters: "The mass scale of deaths of detainees suggests that the government of Syria is responsible for acts that amount to extermination as a crime against humanity." The UN Commission reported finding "unimaginable abuses", including women and children as young as seven perishing while being held by Syrian authorities. The report also stated: "There are reasonable grounds to believe that high-ranking officers—including the heads of branches and directorates—commanding these detention facilities, those in charge of the military police, as well as their civilian superiors, knew of the vast number of deaths occurring in detention facilities ... yet did not take action to prevent abuse, investigate allegations or prosecute those responsible".[161]

In April 2017, there was a sarin chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun that killed more than 80 people. The attack prompted US President Donald Trump to order the US military to launch 59 missiles at a Syrian airbase[163]. Several months later, a joint report from the United Nations and international chemical weapons inspectors found the attack was the work of the Assad regime.[126]

In April 2018 an alleged chemical attack occurred in Douma, prompting the U.S. its and allies to accuse Assad of violating international laws and initiating the 2018 bombing of Damascus and Homs. Both Syria and Russia have refuted the involvement of the Syrian government at this time.[164][165]

In June 2018, Germany's chief prosecutor issued an international arrest warrant for one of Assad's most senior military officials, Jamil Hassan[166]. Hassan is the head of Syria's powerful Air Force Intelligence Directorate. Detention centers run by Air Force Intelligence are among the most notorious in Syria, and thousands are believed to have died because of torture or neglect. Charges filed against Hassan claim he had command responsibility over the facilities and therefore knew of the abuse. The move against Hassan marked an important milestone of prosecutors trying to bring senior members of Assad's inner circle to trial for war crimes.

According to veteran U.S intelligence officer Malcolm Nance, the Syrian government had developed deep relations with former Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command CouncilIzzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Despite the historical differences between the two Ba'ath factions, al-Douri reportedly urged Saddam to open oil pipelines with Syria, building a financial relationship with the Assad family. After the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, al-Douri allegedly fled to Damascus where he organised the National Command of the Islamic Resistance which co-ordinated major combat operations during the Iraqi insurgency.[168][169] In 2009, General David Petraeus, who was at the time heading the United States Central Command, told reporters from Al Arabiya that al-Douri was residing in Syria.[170]

Egypt

At the outset of the Arab Spring, Syrian state media focused primarily upon Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, demonising him as pro-U.S. and comparing him unfavourably with Assad.[174] Assad told The Wall Street Journal in this same period that he considered himself "anti-Israel" and "anti-West", and that because of these policies he was not in danger of being overthrown.[60]

Involvement in Lebanon

Assad argued that Syria's gradual withdrawal of troops from Lebanon, beginning in 2000, was a result of the assassination of Lebanese Prime MinisterRafic Hariri and ended in May 2005.[175] According to testimony submitted to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, when talking to Rafic Hariri at the Presidential Palace in Damascus in August 2004, Assad allegedly said to him, "I will break Lebanon over your [Hariri's] head and over Walid Jumblatt's head" if Émile Lahoud was not allowed to remain in office despite Hariri's objections; that incident was thought to be linked to Hariri's subsequent assassination.[176] In early 2015, journalist and ad hoc Lebanese-Syrian intermediary Ali Hamade stated before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that Rafic Hariri's attempts to reduce tensions with Syria were considered a "mockery" by Assad.[177]

Despite gaining re-election in 2007, Assad's position was considered by some to have been weakened by the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following the Cedar Revolution in 2005. There has also been pressure from the U.S. concerning claims that Syria is linked to terrorist networks, exacerbated by Syrian condemnation of the assassination of Hezbollah military leader, Imad Mughniyah, in Damascus in 2008. Interior Minister Bassam Abdul-Majeed stated that, "Syria, which condemns this cowardly terrorist act, expresses condolences to the martyr family and to the Lebanese people."[178]

In May 2015, Lebanese politician Michel Samaha was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for his role in a terrorist bomb plot that he claimed Assad was aware of.[179]

In a speech about the 2006 Lebanon War in August 2006, Assad said that Hezbollah had "hoisted the banner of victory", hailing its actions as a "successful resistance".[182]

In April 2008, Assad told a Qatari newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year. This was confirmed in May 2008, by a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. As well as the treaty, the future of the Golan Heights was being discussed. Assad was quoted in The Guardian as telling the Qatari paper:

... there would be no direct negotiations with Israel until a new US president takes office. The US was the only party qualified to sponsor any direct talks, [Assad] told the paper, but added that the Bush administration "does not have the vision or will for the peace process. It does not have anything."[183]

According to leaked American cables, Assad called Hamas an "uninvited guest" and said "If you want me to be effective and active, I have to have a relationship with all parties. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, but we have to deal with the reality of their presence," comparing Hamas to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood which was crushed by his father Hafez al-Assad. He also said Hamas would disappear if peace was brought to the Middle East.[184][185]

Assad has indicated that the peace treaty that he envisions would not be the same kind of peace treaty Israel has with Egypt, where there is a legal border crossing and open trade. In a 2006 interview with Charlie Rose, Assad said: "There is a big difference between talking about a peace treaty and peace. A peace treaty is like a permanent ceasefire. There's no war, maybe you have an embassy, but you actually won't have trade, you won't have normal relations because people will not be sympathetic to this relation as long as they are sympathetic with the Palestinians: half a million who live in Syria and half a million in Lebanon and another few millions in other Arab countries."[175]

During the visit of Pope John Paul II to Syria in 2001, Assad requested an apology to Muslims for the Crusades and criticised Israeli treatment of Palestinians, stating that "territories in Lebanon, the Golan and Palestine have been occupied by those who killed the principle of equality when they claimed that God created a people distinguished above all other peoples".[186] He also compared the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis to the suffering endured by Jesus in Judea, and said that "they tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad".[187][188][189][190] Responding to accusations that his comment was antisemitic, Assad said that "We in Syria reject the term antisemitism. ... Semites are a race and [Syrians] not only belong to this race, but are its core. Judaism, on the other hand, is a religion which can be attributed to all races."[191] He also stated that "I was talking about Israelis, not Jews. ... When I say Israel carries out killings, it's the reality: Israel tortures Palestinians. I didn't speak about Jews," and criticised Western media outlets for misinterpreting his comments.[192]

In February 2011, Assad backed an initiative to restore 10 synagogues in Syria, which had a Jewish community numbering 30,000 in 1947, but only 200 Jews by 2011.[193]

United States

Assad met with U.S. scientists and policy leaders during a science diplomacy visit in 2009 and he expressed interest in building research universities and using science and technology to promote innovation and economic growth.[194]

In response to Executive Order 13769 which mandated refugees from Syria be indefinitely suspended from being able to resettle in the United States, Assad appeared to defend the measure, stating "It's against the terrorists that would infiltrate some of the immigrants to the West... I think the aim of Trump is to prevent those people from coming," adding that it was "not against the Syrian people".[195] This reaction was in contrast to other leaders of countries affected by the Executive Order who condemned it.[196]

North Korea

North Korea has allegedly aided Syria in developing and enhancing a ballistic missiles programme.[197][198] They also reportedly helped Syria develop a suspected nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. U.S. officials claimed the reactor was probably "not intended for peaceful purposes", but American senior intelligence officials doubted it was meant for the production of nuclear weapons.[199] The supposed nuclear reactor was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 2007 during Operation Orchard.[200] Following the airstrike, Syria wrote a letter to Secretary-General of the United NationsBan Ki-moon calling the incursion a "breach of airspace of the Syrian Arab Republic" and "not the first time Israel has violated" Syrian airspace.[201]

While hosting an 8 March 2015 delegation from North Korea led by North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sin Hong Chol, Assad stated that Syria and North Korea were being "targeted" because they are "among those few countries which enjoy real independence".[202]

According to Syrian Opposition sources, North Korea has sent army units to fight on behalf of Assad in the Syrian Civil War.[203]

In 2018, the United Nations exposed North Korea for their facilitation of Syria's development of chemical weapons. According to a report by U.N. investigators, North Korea provided the Syrian government with acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers. Additionally, DPRK missile technicians had been seen inside various Syrian chemical weapons facilities. This series of about 40 unreported shipments between North Korea and Syria, on which were the chemical weapons materials as well as prohibited ballistic missile parts, is said to have occurred throughout 2012–2017.

Al-Qaeda and ISIL

In 2001, Assad condemned the September 11 attacks.[204] In 2003, Assad revealed in an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper that he doubted the organization of al-Qaeda even existed. He was quoted as saying, "Is there really an entity called al-Qaeda? Was it in Afghanistan? Does it exist now?" He went on further to remark about Osama bin Laden, commenting: "[he] cannot talk on the phone or use the Internet, but he can direct communications to the four corners of the world? This is illogical."[205]

Assad's relationship with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been subject to much attention. In 2014, journalist and terrorism expert Peter R. Neumann maintained, citing Syrian records captured by the U.S. military in the Iraqi border town of Sinjar and leaked State Department cables, that "in the years that preceded the uprising, Assad and his intelligence services took the view that jihad could be nurtured and manipulated to serve the Syrian government's aims".[206] Other leaked cables contained remarks by US general David Petraeus which stated that "Bashar al-Asad was well aware that his brother-in-law 'Asif Shawqat, Director of Syrian Military Intelligence, had detailed knowledge of the activities of AQI facilitator Abu Ghadiya, who was using Syrian territory to bring foreign fighters and suicide bombers into Iraq", with later cables adding that Petraeus thought that "in time, these fighters will turn on their Syrian hosts and begin conducting attacks against Bashar al-Assad's regime itself".[207]

During the Iraq War, the Assad government was accused of training jihadis and facilitating their passage into Iraq, with these infiltration routes remaining active until the Syrian Civil War; US General Jack Keane has stated that "Al Qaeda fighters who are back in Syria, I am confident, they are relying on much they learned in moving through Syria into Iraq for more than five years when they were waging war against the U.S. and Iraq Security Assistance Force".[208] Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki threatened Assad with an international tribunal over the matter, and ultimately lead to the 2008 Abu Kamal raid, and United States airstrikes within Syria during the Iraq War.[209]

During the Syrian Civil War, multiple opposition and anti-Assad parties in the conflict accused Assad of collusion with ISIS; several sources have claimed that ISIS prisoners were strategically released from Syrian prisons at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.[210] It has also been reported that the Syrian government has bought oil directly from ISIL.[211] A businessman operating in both government and ISIL-controlled territory has claimed that "out of necessity" the Assad government has "had dealings with ISIS."[212] At its height, ISIS was making $40 million a month from the sale of oil, with spreadsheets and accounts kept by oil boss Abu Sayyaf suggesting the majority of the oil was sold to the Syrian government.[213][211] In 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that the Assad government has tactically avoided ISIS forces in order to weaken "moderate opposition" such as the Free Syrian Army,[214] as well as "purposely ceding some territory to them [ISIS] in order to make them more of a problem so he can make the argument that he is somehow the protector against them".[215] A Jane's Defence Weekly database analysis claimed that only a small percentage of the Syrian government's attacks were targeted at ISIS in 2014.[216] The Syrian National Coalition has stated that the Assad government has operatives inside ISIS,[217] as has the leadership of Ahrar al-Sham.[218] ISIS members captured by the FSA have claimed that they were directed to commit attacks by Assad regime operatives.[219]Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi disputed such assertions in February 2014, arguing that "ISIS has a record of fighting the regime on multiple fronts", many rebel factions have engaged in oil sales to the Syrian regime because it is "now largely dependent on Iraqi oil imports via Lebanese and Egyptian third-party intermediaries", and while "the regime is focusing its airstrikes [on areas] where it has some real expectations of advancing" claims that it "has not hit ISIS strongholds" are "untrue". He concluded: "Attempting to prove an ISIS-regime conspiracy without any conclusive evidence is unhelpful, because it draws attention away from the real reasons why ISIS grew and gained such prominence: namely, rebel groups tolerated ISIS."[220] Similarly, Max Abrams and John Glaser stated in the Los Angeles Times in December 2017 that "The evidence of Assad sponsoring Islamic State ... was about as strong as for Saddam Hussein sponsoring Al Qaeda."[221]

Mark Lyall Grant, then Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, stated at the outset of the American-led intervention in Syria that "ISIS is a monster that the Frankenstein of Assad has largely created".[222] French President François Hollande stated, "Assad cannot be a partner in the fight against terrorism, he is the de facto ally of jihadists".[223] Analyst Noah Bonsey of the International Crisis Group has suggested that ISIS are politically expedient for Assad, as "the threat of ISIS provides a way out [for Assad] because the regime believes that over time the U.S. and other countries backing the opposition will eventually conclude that the regime is a necessary partner on the ground in confronting this jihadi threat", while Robin Wright of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has stated "the outside world's decision to focus on ISIS has ironically lessened the pressure on Assad."[224] In May 2015, Mario Abou Zeid of the Carnegie Middle East Center claimed that the recent Hezbollah offensive "has exposed the reality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in Qalamoun; that it is operated by the Syrian regime's intelligence", after ISIS in the region engaged in probing attacks against FSA units at the outset of the fighting.[225]

On 1 June 2015, the United States stated that the Assad government was "making air-strikes in support" of an ISIS advance on Syrian opposition positions north of Aleppo.[226] Referring to the same ISIS offensive, the president of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Khaled Koja accused Assad of acting "as an air force for ISIS",[227] with the Defence Minister of the SNC Salim Idris claiming that approximately 180 Assad-linked officers were serving in ISIS and coordinating the group's attacks with the Syrian Arab Army.[228] Christopher Kozak of the Institute for the Study of War claims that "Assad sees the defeat of ISIS in the long term and prioritizes in the more short-and medium-term, trying to cripple the more mainline Syrian opposition [...] ISIS is a threat that lots of people can rally around and even if the regime trades … territory that was in rebel hands over to ISIS control, that weakens the opposition, which has more legitimacy [than ISIS]".[229]

Assad condemned the November 2015 Paris attacks, but added that France's support for Syrian rebel groups had contributed to the spread of terrorism, and rejected sharing intelligence on terrorist threats with French authorities unless France altered its foreign policy on Syria.[239][240]

Public and personal life

Domestic opposition and support

During the Civil War, the Druze in Syria have largely sought to remain neutral, "seeking to stay out of the conflict", while according to others over half support the Assad government despite its relative weakness in Druze areas.[241] The "Sheikhs of Dignity" movement, which had sought to remain neutral and to defend Druze areas,[242] blamed the government after its leader Sheikh Wahid al-Balous was assassinated and led to large scale protests which left 6 government security personnel dead.[243]

It has been reported at various stages of the Syrian Civil War that other religious minorities such as the Alawites and Christians in Syria favour the Assad government because of its secularism,[244][245] however opposition exists among Assyrian Christians who have claimed that the Assad government seeks to use them as "puppets" and deny their distinct ethnicity, which is non-Arab.[246] Syria's Alawite community is widely written about in the foreign media as Bashar al-Assad's core support base and is said to dominate the government's security apparatus,[247][248] yet in April 2016 a BBC report claimed that Alawite leaders released a document seeking to distance themselves from Assad.[249]

In 2014, the Christian Syriac Military Council, the largest Christian organization in Syria, formed an alliance with the Free Syrian Army opposed to Assad,[250] joining other Syrian Christian militias such as the Sutoro who had joined the Syrian opposition against the Assad government.[251]

In June 2014, Assad won a disputed presidential election held in government-controlled areas (and ignored in opposition held areas[252] and Kurdish areas governed by the Democratic Union Party[253]) with 88.7% of vote. Turnout was estimated to be 73.42% of eligible voters, including those in rebel-controlled areas.[254] Individuals interviewed in a "Sunni-dominated, middle-class neighborhood of central Damascus" said there was significant support for Assad among the Sunnis in Syria.[255] Attempts to hold an election under the circumstances of an ongoing civil war were criticised by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.[256]

Left-wing

Left-wing support for Assad has been split since the start of the Syrian Civil War;[279] the Assad government has been accused of cynically manipulating sectarian identity and anti-imperialism to continue its worst activities.[280] During a visit to the University of Damascus in November 2005, British politician George Galloway said of Assad, and of the country he leads: "For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs,"[281] and a "breath of fresh air".[282]

President of BelarusAlexander Lukashenko has expressed confidence that Syria will eliminate the current crisis and continue under the leadership of President al-Assad "the fight against terrorism and foreign interference in its internal affairs".[294]

International public relations

In order to promote their image and media-portrayal overseas, Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad hired United States and United Kingdom-based PR firms and consultants.[295] Notably, these secured photoshoots for Asma al-Assad with fashion and celebrity magazines, including Vogue's March 2011 "A Rose in the Desert".[296][297] These firms included Bell Pottinger and Brown Lloyd James, with the latter being paid $5,000 a month for their services.[295][298]

At the outset of the Syrian Civil War, Syrian government networks were hacked by the group Anonymous, revealing that an ex-Al Jazeera journalist had been hired to advise Assad on how to manipulate the public opinion of the United States. Among the advice was the suggestion to compare the popular uprising against the regime to the Occupy Wall Street protests.[299] In a separate e-mail leak several months later by the Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution, which were published by The Guardian, it was revealed that Assad's consultants had coordinated with an Iranian government media advisor.[300] In March 2015, an expanded version of the aforementioned leaks were handed to NOW News and published the following month.[301]

After the Syrian Civil War began, the Assads began a social media campaign which included building a presence on Facebook, YouTube, and most notably Instagram.[298] A Twitter account for Assad was reportedly activated, however it remained unverified.[302] This resulted in much criticism, and was described by The Atlantic Wire as "a propaganda campaign that ultimately has made the [Assad] family look worse".[303] The Assad government has also allegedly arrested activists for creating Facebook groups that the government disapproved of,[90] and has appealed directly to Twitter to remove accounts it disliked.[304] The social media campaign as well as the previously leaked e-mails led to comparisons with Hannah Arendt's A Report on the Banality of Evil by The Guardian, The New York Times and the Financial Times.[305][306][307]

In November 2014, the Quilliam Foundation reported that a propaganda campaign, which they claimed had the "full backing of Assad", spread false reports about the deaths of Western-born jihadists in order to deflect attention from the government's alleged war crimes. Using a picture of a Chechen fighter from the Second Chechen War, pro-Assad media reports disseminated to Western media outlets, leading them to publish a false story regarding the death of a non-existent British jihadist.[311]

In 2015, Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in support of Assad, and in 21 October 2015, Assad flew to Moscow and met with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who said regarding the civil war: "this decision can be made only by the Syrian people. Syria is a friendly country. And we are ready to support it not only militarily but politically as well.".[312]

Personal life

Assad and his wife Asma, 2003

Assad speaks fluent English and basic conversational French, having studied at the Franco-Arab al-Hurriyah school in Damascus.[313]

In December 2000, Assad married Asma al-Assad (née Akhras), a British citizen of Syrian origin from Acton, London.[314][315] In 2001, Asma gave birth to their first child, a son named Hafez after the child's grandfather Hafez al-Assad. Their daughter Zein was born in 2003, followed by their second son Karim in 2004.[27]

^"Flight of Icarus? The PYD's Precarious Rise in Syria"(PDF). International Crisis Group. 8 May 2014. p. 23. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2014. The regime aims to compel people to take refuge in their sectarian and communitarian identities; to split each community into competing branches, dividing those who support it from those who oppose it

^Meuse, Alison (18 April 2015). "Syria's Minorities: Caught Between Sword Of ISIS And Wrath of Assad". NPR. Retrieved 19 April 2015. Karim Bitar, a Middle East analyst at Paris think tank IRIS [...] says [...] "Minorities are often used as a shield by authoritarian regimes, who try to portray themselves as protectors and as a bulwark against radical Islam."

^King, Esther (2 November 2016). "Assad denies responsibility for Syrian war". Politico. Retrieved 21 December 2016. The Syrian president maintained he was fighting to preserve his country and criticized the West for intervening. "Good government or bad, it's not your mission" to change it, he said.

^Staff writer(s) (6 October 2016). "'Bombing hospitals is a war crime,' Syria's Assad says". ITV News. Retrieved 21 December 2016. The intense bombardment of Aleppo during an army offensive that began two weeks ago has included several strikes on hospitals, residents and medical workers there have said. But Assad denied any knowledge of such attacks, saying that there were only "allegations".

^Oweis, Khaled Yacoub (18 May 2011). "U.S. imposes sanctions on Syria's Assad". Reuters. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2015. The U.S. move, announced by the Treasury Department, freezes any of the Syrian officials' assets that are in the United States or otherwise fall within U.S. jurisdiction and generally bars U.S. individuals and companies from dealing with them.

^ ab"Bashar Assad may be weaker than he thinks". The Economist. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014. In Latakia and Tartus, two coastal cities near the Alawite heartland, posters of missing soldiers adorn the walls. When IS took over four government bases in the east of the country this summer, slaughtering dozens of soldiers and displaying some of their heads on spikes in Raqqa, IS's stronghold, families started to lose faith in the government. A visitor to the region reports hearing one man complain: "We’re running out of sons to give them."

^Flores, Reena (2 May 2015). "Flash Points: Is Syria's Assad losing power?". CBS News. Retrieved 3 May 2015. "a lot of suspicion within the regime itself about who's doing what and if folks are leaving." [...] "These are signs that I think demonstrate a bit of weakness and instability in the regime that you haven't seen in recent months," he said. He cites the waning support from the nation's minority Alawite community as one of these important shifts.

^Harel, Amos; Cohen, Gili; Khoury, Jack (6 May 2015). "Syrian rebel victories stretch Assad's forces". Haaretz. Retrieved 6 May 2015. There have also been increasing reports of Assad relatives, businessmen and high-ranking members of the Alawite community fleeing Damascus for the coastal city of Latakia, or other countries, after transferring large sums of money to banks in Lebanon, eastern Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

^Karkouti, Mustapha (9 May 2015). "Time to reconsider 'Life after Al Assad'". Gulf News. Retrieved 10 May 2015. [The] reality on the ground can't be more clear as the population in the regime-controlled parts of Syria are preparing for life after the Al Assad dynasty. According to information received by this author, many businessmen and financiers who flourished under the regime have successfully moved huge amounts of money and capital to neighbouring Lebanon. Some of these funds are now known to have been secretly deposited in Europe.

^Sherlock, Ruth; Malouf, Carol (11 May 2015). "Bashar al-Assad's spy chief arrested over Syria coup plot". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 May 2015. Mamlouk had also used a businessman from Aleppo as an intermediary to contact Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar's uncle, who has lived abroad exile since he was accused of seeking to mount a coup in Syria in the 1980s.

^Walker, Peter; News Agencies (21 May 2008). "Olmert confirms peace talks with Syria". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2008. Israel and Syria are holding indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as a mediator...

^"Assad greets pope in Syria". Deseret News. Associated Press. 6 May 2001. "Territories in Lebanon, the Golan and Palestine have been occupied by those who killed the principle of equality when they claimed that God created a people distinguished above all other peoples," the Syrian leader said.

^"Syria and Judaism: The disappearance of the Jews". The Economist. 10 May 2001. Retrieved 1 June 2011. The pope's pilgrimage in the steps of St Paul was widely seen as a success, even if it did not elicit an apology to the Muslim world for the medieval crusades. Syria's president, Bashar Assad, basked in international praise for his religious tolerance. But, notably, this tolerance was not extended to Judaism. Welcoming John Paul, Assad compared the suffering of the Palestinians to that of Jesus Christ. The Jews, he said, "tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad." The pope was taken on a detour to the town of Quneitra, flattened by the Israelis in their partial withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and called upon to bless the president's vision of a Christian-Islamic alliance to vanquish the common threat of colonising Jews.

^"Polish experience shaped Pope's Jewish relations". CBC News. April 2005. Retrieved 7 May 2011. The decision to beatify Pius IX, the pope who kidnapped a Jewish child in Bologna and who put Rome's Jews back in their ghetto, was one question mark. John Paul's silence in 2001 when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Jews had killed Christ and tried to kill Mohammad was another.

^Daragahi, Borzou (21 June 2014). "Iraq alliances twisted by Syria conflict". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 March 2015. Just five years ago, Mr Maliki threatened to drag the Assad government to an international tribunal for facilitating the flow of al-Qaeda militants into Iraq to disrupt the US military presence and attack Shia civilians. Mr Assad's support for extremists wreaking havoc in Iraq in 2008 had grown so egregious that the US launched air strikes against suspected militants inside Syrian territory.

^"Kerry: There Is Evidence That Assad Has Played "Footsie" With ISIS". Real Clear Politics. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015. JOHN KERRY: Regrettably Congressman, no we're not going to be undercut, because. If Assad's forces indeed do decide to focus on ISIS significantly, which they haven't been doing throughout this period, one of our judgements is there is evidence that Assad has played footsie with them, and he has used them as a tool of weakening the opposition. He never took on their headquarters, which were there and obvious, and other assets that they have. So we have no confidence that Assad is either capable of or willing to take on ISIL."

^Bronstein, Scott; Griffin, Drew (26 September 2014). "Syrian rebel groups unite to fight ISIS". CNN. Retrieved 1 October 2014. Under the agreement, moderate Muslim rebel groups fighting under the Supreme Military Council of Syria agreed to form an alliance with the predominantly Christian Syriac Military Council.

^Dagher, Sam (10 April 2016). "Syria Defies Russia in Bid to Keep Assad". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 11 April 2016. A group of French lawmakers mostly from far right parties visited Damascus last month and met with Mr. Assad.

^Booth, Robert; Mahmood, Mona; Harding, Luke (14 March 2013). "Exclusive: secret Assad emails lift lid on life of leader's inner circle". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2015. Before a speech in December his media consultant prepared a long list of themes, reporting that the advice was based on "consultations with a good number of people in addition to the media and political adviser for the Iranian ambassador".